New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and Spark Sport officially launch their new partnership today, transforming the way Kiwis watch cricket with archived and new content now available for both the men (BLACKCAPS) and women’s (WHITEFERNS) games.
Spark Sport will be the new home of all NZC cricket fixtures played on home soil, old and new, as the sports streaming provider brings to life the official broadcast rights deal announced in October 2019. Cricket will sit alongside Premier League Football, Formula 1 racing, NBA &NFL as well as golf, tennis and horse racing available for streaming to the Spark Sport App. Previously known as Telecom New Zealand and trading since 1990, the company was rebranded in 2014 and became known as Spark New Zealand Ltd.
In 2019 Spark Sport offered various entry level packages to watch the Rugby World Cup ranging from $60-90 to watch every match live to $24.99 for a single match pass. In mid-March 2019 the company had 9000 Spark Sports subscribers, however with live sports events still currently on pause across the world, the digital company has decided to extend its “no charge” period for new and existing customers until the end of May, meaning New Zealanders can experience all the cricket action and the other sports, at no cost in this introductory period.
NZC CEO, David White said he wants to ensure a sustainable future for one of New Zealand’s best loved sports. “As a sports body, our ultimate goal is to grow the game we love and, today, a big part of that has come to fruition,” he said.
“As consumer viewing habits move with technology and increasingly turn to streaming, we want to make sure cricket fans can enjoy their favourite sport digitally and it’s great to have Spark Sport going live with cricket content today.
“We’re really looking forward to cricket being launched on Spark Sport and I encourage cricket fans to jump in and check it out for themselves. In today’s rapidly changing environment where you have to move and adapt quickly to new and unexpected situations, I’m happy to have the help and backing of New Zealand’s largest digital services provider.”
Jeff Latch, Head of Spark Sport said, “Today marks a milestone in the New Zealand sports media landscape with one of New Zealand’s most popular sports going live on a digital platform.
“Cricket fans now have a well-tested digital platform on which they’ll be able to access past games, historic moments and milestones, player engagement content, highlight reels and more, when and where they want to.
“We’re committed to sitting alongside NZC and bringing them into a digital era so New Zealanders can continue to watch fantastic domestic and international summer cricket.
Mr Latch said Spark Sport would also bring to life some of New Zealand cricket fans’ favourite memories from the past.
“As New Zealanders continue to stay safe in their bubbles, they can now relive some of New Zealand Cricket’s best home performances from the past 15 years, across all formats of the game on Spark Sport.
“On top of this our team have worked with NZC to produce some never-before-seen interviews with current BLACKCAPS and WHITE FERNS from which viewers should get a good feel of what’s to come. This is the first time New Zealanders will have access to so much on-demand cricket content, and once we bolster that content more, we believe it will be the most extensive.”
John Stephenson
john@cricketinvestor.co.uk
